Concern for France and Europe

[€uroMeinke]

I keep thinking about this one -

Having traveled in Europe, I know there is a different sense of cultural identity there than here. People have a different sense about what it is to be "French," or "Swiss," or ""English" than we have in being "American." Whether you think of us as a melting pot or a tossed salad, when you are an American, you always have a cultural identitiy that has some element of being other, be that German, Mexican, African, or even Native American. We are a hyphenated nation - and that perhaps is one of our strengths in assimilating or integrating other cultures into our nation.

Europe is different. When you are in France and not French, you are an outsider despite whatever liberal political systems are in place. I suspect Muslims in Europe never fully feel European. Perhaps this will change as the EU continues and possibly even grows to include a Muslim state such as Turkey. But I think it will take a long time to effect the current sense of cultural identity among the European nations.